Center stay for tennis nets



P. A. VAILE.

CENTER STAY FOR TENNIS NETS.

APPLICATION FILED APR. 7. 1919.

1,409,981. Patented Mar. 21,1922.

PEMBROKE A. VAILEL OF CHICAGO, ILLINOTS.

CENTER STAY FDR TENNIS NETS.

incensi.

Specification of Letters Patent. latnted lar, 21, 1922,

Application filed April 7, 1919. Serial No. 288,192.

To all 07m/21, t may concern.'

Be it known that I, PnMnnoxn A. Vaima, a subject of the British Empire, and a resident of Chicago, in the county ot Cook and State ot Illinois, have invented certain new and usetul Improvements in Center Stays tor Teunis Nets; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters ot reference .marked thereon, which :term a part of this specification.

My invention relates to an improved center stay :tor tennis nets, and consists of the device hereinafter described and claimed.

In the game ot tennis, a net is stretched across the playing court between two fixed posts and secured by its end margins to said posts, the net being drawn taut at the top. The top or" the middle point of the net, by the rules of the game, must be exactly thirtysix (36) inches above the ground.' VvTooden, iron. or other rigid center stay posts may not be used, as they deflectthe ball from its course excessively, and the net must have a certain amount of lateral play. Adjustable belts passing around the net, the ends being buckled or otherwise secured together and con nected with some device for connecting the belt to a staple or other anchor in the ground, have been used, but with only limited success, mainly because there have been no means employed heretofore to insure the exact measurement required being automatically attained, and because the adjustment oi' the belt must of necessity be lett to the accuracy of the person applying it, in use.

ln my invention, I make a center stay in such manner that by its mere application to a tennis net and the ground anchor, the prede termined distance of the top of the net from the ground is automatically attained. The operator does not have to adjust it but merely apply it in use.

In the drawings:

1 represents in elevation, a tennis net positioned with my improved center stay thereto applied.

Fig. 2 is a central, vertical, sectional view of the same, enlarged, taken in the plane 2 2 of Fig. l.

Fig. 3 is a. detail view in elevation, enlarged, of one end of the stay with the hook member engaged therewith.

In the drawings, P, P, indicate the two supporting tennis posts, G the ground, N the tennis net secured, at its ends to the posts P, P, by any suitable means, as for example, by cords a, a. The lower edge a of the net may be slightly raised above the ground G and the upper edge a ot' the net N is stretched taut between the posts P.

The center stay, designated as a whole at S, is composed of two members, a fabric band or loop l and a metal hook member 2. This hook member is provided with a curved or hooked end 3 adapted for engagement with any suitable form of anchor A secured in the ground, so that the part indicated at i shall be in the plane of the ground or floor of the tennis court. The hook end 3 is connected by a shank 5 with laterally extending arms 6, 6, in which is an elongated aperture 7. The band l of the stay S is formed of a strip of flexible, non-elastic material, such, for example, as canvas webbing, of a width approximating the length of the aperture 7. This strip is laced through the aperture 7 and its two ends are then permanently joined together by any suitable means, not shown, to form the endless band or loop l.

The length of the stay S is such that when its two parts l and 2 are fully extended, the distance between the inside of the loop at 9, to the point 4t of the hook end 3 shall be an exact, predetermined distance; in this case, thirty-six inches.

The stay S is looped over the net N and the latter secured to the'posts P, P. The hook 3 is then secured to the anchor A.

Thus the center of the net'N is definitely placed at 36 inches abovethe ground, automatically, and any carelessness of the attendants in Stringing the net on its posts or in tightening it isV always detected and may be at once remedied, since the center stay is the guide and is sure tobe always not highery from the ground than the predetermined or fixed distance.

l have referred to the loop member 1 as a strip of iiexible non-elastic material, such for example, as canvas webbing, but it is obvious that any flexible material, other than canvas webbing, .that is non-elastic and nonshrinlrable, and which will perform the function of maintaining a fixed relation when extended with respect to the hook member 2, may be used, and is to be comprehended within the scope of my invention as herein claimed.

I claim as my invention:

As a new article of manufacture, a uniend of the fabric band when extended, being a non-adjustable fixed predetermined distance.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as l5 my invention I aiix my signature in Ythe presence of two Witnesses, this 1st day of Aprih A. D. 1919.

PEMBROKE A. VAILE. Witnesses:

TAYLOR E. BROWN,

B. L. MAGGREGOR. 

